I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

Yi Zhonghai walked to the entrance of the courtyard house and glanced at the familiar gate. At that moment, he felt like a rat in the street. All the way there, he felt that the way people looked at him had changed, and there were whispers and pointing fingers behind his back.

As soon as he stepped into the front yard, he saw Yan Bugui squatting by the door watering the flowers. The man glanced up and saw him, then quickly darted inside. Yi Zhonghai raised his hand to greet him, but then awkwardly withdrew it. He glanced at the closed door, his face expressionless, and silently walked towards the middle yard.

"Honey, what's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." The old lady couldn't help but ask as she watched her husband hiding behind the door, peeking out through the glass.

"Shh—keep your voice down! It's like I just saw a ghost!" Yan Bugui whispered. "I just ran into Yi Zhonghai. I heard he's the head of some kind of investigation team at the factory, and he ruined people's families! We can't afford to offend someone like that. I never expected him to be so well-hidden!"

"But you don't have to avoid him like this, do you? Haven't you always had a good relationship with him?" The third aunt said dismissively.

"You can know a person's face but not their heart! If he hadn't become the group leader, who would have known he was this kind of person? We small guys shouldn't get involved. Especially now that I'm a teacher, I absolutely can't get involved."

As soon as Yi Zhonghai stepped into the Intermediate People's Court, he heard Xu Damao and Shazhu arguing.

Coincidentally, the sound stopped abruptly the moment he stepped into the yard. Sha Zhu saw Yi Zhonghai, turned around without a word, went back into the house, and slammed the door shut, making his stance clear.

Seeing this, Xu Damao laughed and shouted at Shazhu's door, "Shazhu, Shazhu, why are you running? Your good old man is here, and you don't even say a word? Didn't you two used to get along like father and son?"

"Xu Damao, are you ever going to shut up?! If you dare say another word, I'll chop you up with a knife!" Sha Zhu's furious roar came from inside the house.

"Oh, what's wrong? Did I hit a nerve? You still have the nerve to call me a bad seed! Now you know who the biggest bad seed in this yard is?" Xu Damao mocked smugly.

With a loud "bang," a piece of glass shattered in the door, and something flew out of the room, narrowly missing Xu Damao's head. Startled, he shuddered and looked up through the hole in the glass. There was Sha Zhu searching for something inside.

Xu Damao quickly took off running, but he still didn't let it go: "Silly Zhu, remember this, you lost today! You're so angry! Hahaha—" His smug voice carried far.

Yi Zhonghai remained silent, as if he hadn't heard anything, and pushed open the door to enter the house.

When Aunt Yi saw him return, she quickly stood up, wanting to ask something, but then swallowed her words. Yi Zhonghai sat down in a chair at the table, and Aunt Yi quickly poured him a cup of tea. She stood there for a long time, as if struggling with her conscience, before finally speaking with difficulty: "Husband... everyone in the courtyard is saying that you became the head of some investigation team at the factory, and... and they even investigated one of your coworkers?"

Yi Zhonghai was taken aback, but didn't say anything. He just frowned and blew on the steam rising from the teacup.

"The old lady in the backyard knows too; she's the one who asked me to ask," Aunt Yi added.

"Don't listen to that nonsense. Just stay home and take care of the house. Why worry about so much?" Yi Zhonghai replied in a muffled voice.

"What about the old lady...?"

Yi Zhonghai paused for a moment, then said, "You don't need to worry about it, I'll talk to them."

"Clang, clang." The two of them paused for a moment—who would come knocking at this hour? Everyone else was avoiding him like the plague.

Aunt Yi opened the door and was stunned: "Yuanyuan, what brings you here?" She quickly welcomed Liu Yuanyuan in.

"Aunt Yi, I want to talk to Uncle Yi about something."

"Oh, okay, you two chat. I'll go outside and cook." Aunt Yi picked up her shopping basket and went out. She knew that Liu Yuanyuan worked at the steel rolling mill, so her visit to Uncle Yi was probably about factory matters.

"Yuanyuan, what do you need me for?" Yi Zhonghai asked.

Liu Yuanyuan seemed to have gone through a struggle before she spoke: "Uncle Yi, I want to ask you for a favor."

"Huh? You're begging me? What's wrong?" Yi Zhonghai was somewhat surprised.

"Now that you're the team leader, could you perhaps go see Director Li and explain my situation to him?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned, not understanding. Liu Yuanyuan then explained the whole story: she had been selected as the lead dancer for the propaganda dance troupe, but someone had falsely accused her, and her lead role was suspended. Today, the factory announced that they would be selecting people for the workshop in a couple of days. Everyone in the dance troupe thought she was a thief, so needless to say, they would all choose her. After listening, Yi Zhonghai pondered for a moment and said, "Yuanyuan, it's not that I don't want to help you. My position as group leader is temporary, and my words don't carry much weight."

"Uncle Yi, I really had no other choice but to come to you. You are the team leader, and you were even commended today. Director Li used to live in our compound, so you should be able to talk to him. Actually... I went to see Team Leader Xu in the backyard first."

Yi Zhonghai was taken aback—if she had already contacted Xu Damao, why was she coming to him again? Before he could ask, Liu Yuanyuan blurted out, "Uncle Yi, I have no other choice. Team Leader Xu… he's gone too far, always giving me hints about this and that. My parents also asked me to come and beg you."

As soon as he said that, Yi Zhonghai understood. He didn't say it out loud, but he knew perfectly well that Xu Damao was probably taking advantage of the situation and had some improper ideas.

"Yuanyuan, the fact that you still came to me in my current state shows that your family still trusts me. How about this, I'll swallow my pride and go talk to Director Li tomorrow. But I'm not sure if it will work out, so don't blame me if it doesn't."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Liu Yuanyuan quickly bowed, as if she had grasped a lifeline.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Hey, Xiao Gou, what's up?... When did this happen? Okay, okay, I got it. So what if someone dies? People die every day in China. Don't make a fuss.... So what if he was a vice minister? He was still demoted, wasn't he? What's the difference between him and an ordinary worker? Others can die, but he can't? Fine, that's settled then."

Li Jing'an hung up the phone, leaned back in his chair, and smiled slightly—he hadn't expected such good news so early in the morning. The vice minister of the Ministry of Metallurgy, whom Xu Damao had entrusted to him, had committed suicide at home last night due to despair.

Xiao Gou called to deliver the news, and Li Jing'an knew perfectly well what he was up to—he wanted to remove Xu Damao from the position of head of the personnel security group so that he, as the deputy head, could take over. Unfortunately, he miscalculated. Li Jing'an had been waiting for this day. If this deputy minister hadn't died, how could his former superior, Deputy Minister Gao, have smoothly ascended to the ministerial seat after the storm had passed?

"Knock knock." There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Li Jing'an greeted.

The door opened, and Xiao Lin poked half his body in: "Director Li, Team Leader Yi from the investigation team would like to see you. Is this convenient for you?"

"Oh? He came by himself?" Li Jing'an was a little surprised and found it quite interesting. He waved to let Yi Zhonghai in.

"Director Li." Yi Zhonghai bowed respectfully as he entered.

"Oh, Comrade Yi Zhonghai, Team Leader Yi, why are you being so polite? With our relationship, there's no need for all this. If I were still living in the courtyard house, I'd have to call you 'Grandpa'."

"No, no, I wouldn't dare."

"Alright, Team Leader Yi came to see me this morning. What's up? Oh, right, I have some good news for you. I've decided to make you the director of the Revolutionary Committee in your workshop. You've done a really good job lately, cracking a counter-revolutionary case for our factory, which even caught the attention of the higher-ups." Li Jing'an looked at Yi Zhonghai with a smile.

"Director Li, I... I can't handle being the director of the Revolutionary Committee. I just want to work at the workbench." After Yi Zhonghai finished speaking, seeing Li Jing'an's face darken, he quickly added, "Of course, if the factory really wants to reward me, could I... exchange that reward for a favor?"

Li Jing'an was taken aback, not expecting Yi Zhonghai to propose such a condition. This was quite interesting. He looked at Yi Zhonghai with great interest, wanting to hear what this favor was all about.